{"id":83856,"date":"2026-06-22T08:29:48","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T12:29:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/?p=83856"},"modified":"2026-06-22T09:05:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T13:05:30","slug":"an-armenian-tycoon-has-a-private-zoo-now-he-wants-the-worlds-biggest-jesus-statue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/an-armenian-tycoon-has-a-private-zoo-now-he-wants-the-worlds-biggest-jesus-statue\/","title":{"rendered":"An Armenian Tycoon Has A Private Zoo. Now He Wants The World\u2019s Biggest Jesus Statue"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From <em>The Guardian:<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/fd7005145662575b8aaa746a980df1a239c00401\/0_73_720_900\/master\/720.jpg?width=480&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" alt=\"A mock-up of the how the statue will look.\" width=\"380\" height=\"475\" \/><\/p>\n<aside class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\" data-gu-name=\"meta\">\n<div class=\"dcr-14emo0l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1v9sla6\">\n<div class=\"dcr-5oiine\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Behind the walls of a sprawling estate on the outskirts of Yerevan, six tigers prowl behind a fence, three lions pace their enclosures, and alligators bask in the afternoon heat.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">+<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">The scene offers a glimpse into the tastes of Gagik Tsarukyan, Armenia\u2019s most flamboyant business tycoon and opposition politician, whose displays of wealth have long been the stuff of local folklore. Having secured less than 4% of the vote in this month\u2019s parliamentary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/jun\/08\/armenia-europe-party-wins-election-russia-nikol-pashinyan\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">election<\/a>, Tsarukyan\u2019s chances of ever leading Armenia look slim, but one of Armenia\u2019s richest and most divisive men remains determined to leave his mark on the country. His chosen monument: erecting the world\u2019s tallest statue of Jesus Christ, perched atop a 2,500-metre (8,200ft) mountain overlooking Yerevan. \u201cWe are the oldest Christian nation in the world,\u201d Tsarukyan said. \u201cIt only makes sense we should have the biggest Jesus statue in the world.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From The Guardian: Behind the walls of a sprawling estate on the outskirts of Yerevan, six tigers prowl behind a.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-83856","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-news","7":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83856"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83860,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83856\/revisions\/83860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}